Eugene Edward Speicher

Born in Buffalo, Speicher took night classes at the Albright Art School. In 1907 he moved to New York City and studied with Robert Henri at the Independent School, where his classmates included George Bellows, Edward Hopper, and Guy Pène du Bois. Henri's teachings deeply influenced him and he became part of the coterie of young realists—Hopper, Bellows, Pène du Bois, Rockwell Kent, and Leon Kroll—around Henri. He began visiting the art colony in Woodstock, New York, in 1910 and became an important part of the arts community there.